May 3, 2020 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
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Bayside children’s hospital meets
challenges during COVID-19 pandemic
BY JACOB KAYE
St. Mary’s Hospital for Children
in Bayside is home to a vulnerable
population – one that might be
disproportionately affected by the
coronavirus should they become
infected. But early on, St. Mary’s
leadership took extreme precaution
and instituted a handful of
measures to help keep its staff and
vulnerable children safe.
“We have some very, very sick
children in the facility,” said Dr.
Edwin F. Simpser, CEO and president
of St. Mary’s. “We’ve been
working very diligently to protect
those kids from getting COVID-
19. And so far, we’ve been quite
successful.”
The hospital, which cares for
children who are recovering or
rehabilitating from complex medical
conditions, was in position to
meet the crisis head on, according
to Simpser. Each winter, they
routinely test children for viruses
that could cause more harm to
them then the general population.
This year, they were able to add the
COVID-19 test into the mix.
Additionally, the hospital has
taken measures to help prevent
the virus from ever making it into
the walls of the hospital. Outside
vendors have been barred from entering
the building, as have meetings
with non-employees. Staff are
required to wear masks and have
their temperature taken before entering
the building. Additionally,
routine family visits have also
been eliminated.
To replace the valuable in-person
visits with family, the hospital
set up the capacity to hold virtual
meetings.
“We very, very quickly set
up virtual visits for families
with the kids,” Simpser said.
“We have staff with iPads that
go from room to room and we
set up FaceTime or Skype visits
between the families and
the kids.”
Some families have even chosen
to board with their children
– making the promise not to leave
the hospital in order to prevent the
spread of the virus.
As other hospitals and healthcare
facilities in the city struggled
with their supply of personal protective
equipment for staff and
ventilators for COVID-19 patients,
St. Mary’s found itself prepared
and indebted to generous donors.
In addition to a regular shipment
from the Department of
Health, St. Mary’s received donations
of masks and other PPE from
donors in the community.
“People have just gone out and
bought surgical masks and just donated
them, which bas been very
helpful for us,” Simpser said.
While the work hasn’t been
easy, Simpser said, St. Mary’s infrastructure
and it’s donations
have helped make the transition
to protecting its children from infection
relatively seamless. A big
Photo courtesy of St. Mary’s Hospital for Children
part of this is due to the dedication
of the hospital’s tireless staff,
according to Simpser.
“Our staff have tremendous
anxiety around this pandemic,
around what’s going on,” Simpser
said. “And yet, our staff are unwavering.”
Members of the staff, in some
cases, have had to leave their
homes hours earlier than they normally
would, due to the changes
in public transportation. Others
have switched shifts with their
colleagues to ensure that everyone
has adequate time to spend with
their own families.
“There hasn’t been any sense
at all from any of our staff about
reluctance to come in and to see
their patients and to take care of
everybody. In fact, it’s been the
opposite,” Simpser said. “ Everybody
says ‘I’m a healthcare professional,
I’m here to help take care of
these kids and I’m going to make it
work.’ It’s just been marvelous to
see our staff step up and contribute
to our kids, to our families and to
each other.”
Additional reporting by
Jenna Bagcal.
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